In December 2018, the world celebrated the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). Two of the Ten Principles of the UN Global Compact are derived directly from the Universal Declaration. The United Nations Global Compact is advocating for businesses to stand up for human rights, promoting uptake of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.

The research explores the moral, financial and economic justification for responsible investment, and the academic evidence underpinning future action. It concentrates on how ESG factors materially impact investment risk and returns, clarifying the agency of investors over non-financial value creation.

Companies and institutional investors are being asked to contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through their business activities, asset allocation and investment decisions. The SDG investment case tries to answer the question: Why are the SDGs relevant to institutional investors?

This paper makes the case for why businesses should implement inclusive business models and engage low-income populations along their value chains. It identifies common market constraints of inclusive business models and how to overcome them.

Research conducted by Young Lives on improving the current issue of child labour provided from a view that differs from the conventional approach: improving working conditions is more constructive than merely banning child labour altogether, as doing so would miss the social and economic nuances such as relationship ties, supporting families and gaining skills.

Nature Climate Change and Nature Geoscience jointly present 'Water in a warming world', a collection of research highlighting many of the key issues in this important area of climate change research. This article highlights some of the research on the potential impacts of climate change on the world's water resources.

Understanding how investors are applying the growing supply of corporate ESG information into their investment decision-making is increasingly important. This report aims to help investors navigate the rapidly changing responsible investing landscape by developing a typology that classifies approaches to environmental, social and governance (ESG) integration.

This research identifies the potential for increased green bond issuance to support the green investment needs of large global publicly traded companies across all sectors. Comparing companies’ business as usual (BAU) to pathways aligned to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), case studies illustrate how green bonds can support transitions to low-carbon business models.

A 2018 report on worldwide investments in harmful cluster munitions. Two arms manufacturers recently ended production of cluster munitions, and more financial institutions and states are acting to end money going to producers. Despite declining investment from financial institutions, there are seven companies in the report still manufacturing.

This paper informs asset owners about the current state of sustainable investing for US institutional investors. Drawing on the experiences of over 100 asset owners and investment professional as well as evidence from WRI’s own endowment the paper constructs a detailed outline of sustainable investing. It highlights the underlying motives and drivers, governance structures, relevant data and standards, investment vehicles, and key barriers that shape opportunities for implementation.

This article defines responsible investment, highlights the ways in which it is currently applied to managing assets, and outlines the key forces driving its growth. Additionally, it discusses common misconceptions about responsible investment.

This report is intended to help investors understand how climate change can influence their investment performance in both the short and long term. The research uses scenarios from the Cambridge Econometrics transition-risk climate model, to consider three scenarios; 2⁰C, 3⁰C and 4⁰C temperature increases, with evolved pathways and magnitude.

This white paper highlights whether integrating environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria into the investment process has had a positive effect on corporate financial performance (CFP), whether the effect was stable over time, how a link between ESG and CFP differs across regions and asset classes and whether any specific subcategory of E, S or G had a dominant influence on CFP.

This research focuses on providing a framework for institutional investors to improve long-term outcomes for their portfolios, their investee companies and for their stakeholders. This framework is comprised of five core action areas: investment beliefs, risk appetite statement, benchmarking process, evaluations and incentives, and investment mandates.

This report is designed to help asset owners and asset managers overcome their modern-day challenges as we stand on the cusp of a period of significant transformation in world economies, politics and capital markets. It explores practical solutions and processes to enable investors to become sustainable investors.

Decent work cannot exist where modern slavery and child labour persist, yet it is widespread across the globe. Nevertheless, a world with decent jobs can be realised with the help of companies.